SpaceX exec says there is 'not a lot of effort' going into satellite internet plan

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company's plan to
launch 4,000 internet-beaming satellites into space is "very
speculative."

Shotwell made the comments at the Cable & Satellite
Broadcasting Association of Asia conference in Hong Kong
Tuesday.

Elon Musk petitioned the Federal Communications Commission over
the summer to launch eight prototypes into space, with the goal
of eventually launching 4,000, CNN Money reported. Musk planned to test
the satellites, which would orbit at 750
miles above the earth's surface to beam the Internet, starting
early 2016.

“Certainly I think that from a technical perspective this
could get done," she said at the event. "But can we develop the
technology and roll it out with a lower-cost methodology so that
we can beat the prices of existing providers like Comcast and
Time Warner and other people? It’s not clear that the business
case will work."

Musk did note that SpaceX is proceeding with caution with their
internet-beaming satellite plan at the International
Space Station Research and Development Conference in July. But,
even then he said the hope was to launch a satellite in
2016.

"We want to be really careful about how we make this
thing work, and not over-extend ourselves," Musk said at the
time. "I don't want to overplay or overstate at this early
stage.”

Shotwell's comments come a few months after SpaceX's Falcon 9 suffered a failure about
two minutes after liftoff June 28. Shotwell said the rocket will
return to flight in December.